The monumental classicizing figure style and the soft tubular drapery typify the transitional style of about 1200. The masterful rendering of this object has led scholars to associate it with the work of Nicholas of Verdun, an outstanding goldsmith of the period. The figures are generally thought to represent Solomon and the queen of Sheba, but they also have been interpreted as Ahasuerus and Esther. A similar clasp was excavated at Dune in Gotland; although the style is different, parallels in iconography suggest a common traditional source. The clasp probably was intended as a girdle or cloak closure.
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Title:Clasp
Date:ca. 1200
Geography:Made in Meuse Valley, South Netherlands
Culture:South Netherlandish
Medium:Copper alloy, gilding
Dimensions:Overall: 2 1/8 x 2 7/8 x 5/8 in. (5.4 x 7.3 x 1.6 cm)
Classification:Metalwork-Bronze
Credit Line:The Cloisters Collection, 1947
Accession Number:47.101.48a, b
Baron Emmanuel De Decker, Brussels ; [ Raphael Stora, New York (sold 1937)] ; [ Brummer Gallery, Paris and New York (1937–1947)]
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition," February 17–March 24, 1940.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 12–May 10, 1970.
Art Gallery, University of California, Santa Barbara. "A Medieval miscellany Romanesque and early Gothic metalwork: an exhibition on the occasion of the 1974 annual meetings of the Medieval Association of the Pacific," February 14, 1974–February 28, 1974.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Grand Gallery," October 19, 1974–January 5, 1975.
Württembergisches Landesmuseum. "Die zeit der Staufer," March 26–June 5, 1977.
State Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," June–December 1989.
State Hermitage Museum, Leningrad. "Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki," February–July 1990.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Winchester Bible: A Masterpiece of Medieval Art in Context," December 8, 2014–March 8, 2015.
Arts of the Middle Ages: A Loan Exhibition. Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1940. no. 218, p. 65.
Rorimer, James J. "A Treasury at the Cloisters." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 6, no. 9 (May 1948). p. 238.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1954. p. 83, fig. 536, pl. 225.
Swarzenski, Hanns. Monuments of Romanesque Art: the Art of Church Treasures in North-Western Europe. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1967. p. 83, fig. 536, pl. 225.
Hoffmann, Konrad, ed. The Year 1200: A Centennial Exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1970. no. 102, pp. 95–96.
Sauerländer, Willibald. "Review of 'The Year 1200,' a Centennial exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. February 12-May 10, 1970." The Art Bulletin 53, no. 4 (December 1971). p. 514.
Deuchler, Florens. "The Cloisters: Ein Museum für mittelalterliche Kunst in New York." Du 32, no. 2 (1972). p. 114.
Ostoia, Vera K. "Two Riddles of the Queen of Sheba." Metropolitan Museum Journal 6 (1972). pp. 92–93, fig. 16.
Kötzsche, Dietrich. "Zum Stand der Forschung der Goldschmiedekunst des 12. Jahrhunderts im Rhein-Maas-Gebiet." In Rhein und Maas: Kunst und Kultur 800–1400. Volume 2, Berichte, Beiträge und Forschungen zum Themenkreis der Ausstellung und des Katalogs, edited by Anton Legner. Cologne: Museum Schnütgen, 1973. pp. 224–25.
A Medieval Miscellany: Romanesque and Early Gothic Metalwork. Santa Barbara: Art Galleries, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1974. no. 9, pp. 9, 20–21, 33, pl. X.
Broderick, Herbert. "Solomon and Sheba Revisited." Gesta 16, no. 1 (1977). pp. 45–48, fig. 1.
Haussherr, Reiner, ed. Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte, Kunst, Kultur; Volume 1, Text. Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1977. no. 602, pp. 477–78.
Haussherr, Reiner, ed. Die Zeit der Staufer: Geschichte, Kunst, Kultur; Volume 2, Plates. Stuttgart: Württembergisches Landesmuseum, 1977. fig. 420.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1983. no. 9, p. 363.
Shepard, Mary B. Europe in the Middle Ages, edited by Charles T. Little, and Timothy B. Husband. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987. pp. 12, 85, pl. 75.
Pushkin Museum and State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki: Kratkii Katalog Vystavki. Moscow: Pushkin Museum, 1990. no. 29, pp. 11, 25, fig. 29.
State Hermitage Museum. Dekorativno-Prikladnoe Iskusstvo ot Pozdnei Antichnosti do Pozdnei Gotiki. St. Petersburg: State Hermitage Museum, 1990. no. 29, pp. 64–65.
Howard, Kathleen, ed. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Guide. 2nd ed. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1994. no. 14, p. 399.
Barnet, Peter, ed. Images In Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. pp. 224–25, fig. 54a.
Randall Jr., Richard H. "Popular Romances Carved in Ivory." In Images In Ivory: Precious Objects of the Gothic Age, edited by Peter Barnet. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1997. p. 72.
Avril, François, ed. L'art au temps des rois maudits: Philippe le Bel et ses fils, 1285-1328. Paris: Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1998. p. 158, ill.
Mühlemann, Joanna. "Erec auf dem Krakauer Kronenkreuz – Iwein auf Rodenegg: Zur Rezeption des Artusromans in Goldschmiedekunst und Wandmalerei." In Literatur und Wandmalerei: Volume 1, Erscheinungsformen höfischer Kultur und ihre Träger im Mittelalter. Freiburger Colloquium 1998, edited by Eckart Conrad Lutz, Johanna Thali, and René Wetzel. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer, 2002. p. 234 n. 135.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2005. no. 33, pp. 65, 194.
Barnet, Peter, and Nancy Y. Wu. The Cloisters: Medieval Art and Architecture. 75th Anniversary ed. New York and New Haven: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. p. 63.
Heslop, T. A., and Steven Ashley. "A Fragment of a Gilt-Bronze Buckle Frame from Soham, Cambridgeshire, and the Dune Hoard Belt Buckle in Stockholm." The Antiquaries Journal 93 (2013). pp. 221–22, fig. 5.
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